Obama the War Time President

David Streeter — January 19, 2010 – 11:13 am | Afghanistan | Barack Obama | Foreign Policy | Terrorism Comments (0) Add a comment

The Washington Post published an in depth article detailing Obama’s evolution into his role as a war time president. The article highlighted Obama’s efforts to take ownership of the Afghanistan War by managing the war on his own terms:

... as Obama has sought to convey an image of a deliberate leader preoccupied with the battle’s human toll, he has used military power at least as aggressively as his Republican predecessor did during the waning years of his administration. In his first year in office, Obama has set in motion plans to triple the number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan; expanded operations against U.S. enemies in Pakistan, Somalia and Yemen; and, in one early instance of his willingness to use deadly force, authorized Special Forces snipers to kill three Somali pirates holding an American hostage.

And:

Upon taking office, Obama moved quickly to imprint his view of war on the vast national security apparatus, drawing criticism from conservatives in doing so. Within days, he banned the use of torture in interrogation and ordered the closing of the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, by Jan. 22, 2010…

The executive orders were part of a review of the Bush-era protocols that framed the ‘global war on terror,’ a term Obama immediately discouraged his advisers from using because he said it overstated al-Qaeda’s strength. To the former constitutional law lecturer, the refinements in language and policy strengthened the moral argument for war.

The article also examined how Obama holds a “paternal view” of his relationship with American troops and their families. In particular:

The politician who brashly opposed the Iraq invasion has had more than 443 U.S. service members die while serving under his command. On a chilly October evening, in a stark waiting room at Dover, he leaned toward Dona Griffin less than 24 hours after she learned that her 29-year-old son had been killed by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan.

‘I found myself with my hand in his, and he was asking if there’s anything he could do,’ she recalled. ‘I put my left hand behind his left elbow, and leaned forward, and whispered in his ear, ‘Mr. President, please don’t leave our troops hanging.’ 

The article concluded with a summary of how seriously Obama takes both the Afghanistan War and America’s fight against terrorism:

... Obama spoke angrily about ‘systemic failures,’ and while he criticized his intelligence agencies for faulty analysis, he declared that ‘ultimately, the buck stops with me.’

‘We are at war,’ he said.

 

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